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| The Son La Mango brand has been registered as a trademark. (Source: VGP) |
On November 15, in Can Tho city, the Department of Processing Quality and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) coordinated with relevant units to organize training to raise awareness and capacity of domestic and foreign trademark protection for businesses to aim at building and developing national brands for agricultural, forestry and fishery products.
According to current Vietnamese laws, trademark registration is not mandatory, but necessary. Trademarks are established according to the “First to file” principle. Accordingly, trademarks can only be protected exclusively through registration, except for famous trademarks.
According to a survey by the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, most businesses are aware of the importance of using trademarks to distinguish their products from those of their competitors. However, the number of registrations and certifications of agricultural and aquatic product trademarks is still low compared to the available potential of the locality.
As of December 2022, the whole country has 1,899 trademarks registered for certification trademark protection for agricultural products; including 1,430 collective trademarks and 469 certification trademarks.
The products protected by certified trademarks are mainly fruit, tea, and coffee products such as: Lai Vung Mandarin, Thap Muoi Lotus, Son La Mango, Liangbang Arabica Coffee, Da Lat Vegetables, Da Lat Strawberries, Da Lat Persimmons...
Vietnam has also had 1,430 applications granted collective trademark protection certificates, mainly trademarks containing place names such as: Dong Thai sweet potato (Ba Vi), Long Thanh mangosteen, Laba banana, Chi Lang custard apple, Cat Hoa Loc mango, Cao Lanh mango...
In the Mekong Delta region, there are currently 471 trademarks including: 399 collective trademarks, 72 certified trademarks, accounting for about 24.8% of the country.
The Central Highlands region has 108 trademarks including: 38 collective trademarks, 70 certified trademarks, accounting for about 5.7% of the country. This shows that the number of registered and certified trademarks for agricultural and aquatic products is still low.
Mr. Ta Quang Kien, Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, informed that before 2018, the number of agricultural and aquatic product brands was still low. Specifically, for 18 provinces in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands, there were only 30 certified brands and 238 collective brands with the participation of 264 agencies, organizations, and associations, and only 4 enterprises and business households registered for brand protection.
Meanwhile, in the period from 2018 to 2022, there were 112 certification marks and 199 collective marks with the participation of 311 agencies, organizations and associations. The applications for protection certificates were mainly submitted by agencies, organizations and associations. According to the reflected data, businesses are still not interested in registering trademark protection for their products.
The process of deep economic integration has brought many challenges to Vietnamese agriculture. Agricultural exports are facing increased protection through standards on quality management and food safety of countries that are major agricultural markets of Vietnam such as the US, the European Union (EU), China, Japan, Korea, etc. Meanwhile, Vietnamese agricultural products are only organized for production on a small scale, depending on the climate, the quality of agricultural products is not uniform; difficult to stabilize, weak value chain linkage, products have not been registered for trademarks, etc.
Therefore, experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and businesses with experience in branding have updated and provided information and knowledge on the situation of building, managing and exploiting agricultural product brands in our country and other countries around the world. At the same time, they disseminated the regulations of our country and other countries around the world on branding and product brand protection.
According to Ms. Doan Thieu Trang, Center for Research, Training, Support and Consulting (Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Science and Technology), registering trademark protection for products will help businesses: ensure that customers can distinguish products from different companies; help companies create differences for their products.
At the same time, it creates a marketing tool and is the basis for building the reputation and image of a brand; creates opportunities for transferring the right to use a trademark or franchising a trademark; becomes a valuable business secret; encourages companies to invest in maintaining product quality. Thereby, ensuring the rights and improving the experience of consumers.
In recent times, building brands including collective brands and certification brands has become an important orientation to promote the competitiveness and value of specialty agricultural products, contributing to organizing production and developing the market based on advantages in production conditions and local culture.
Product brands have gradually affirmed their role and value in the production and trade of agricultural products, contributing positively to agricultural development. Therefore, businesses and experts also exchange and discuss together to propose solutions and share experiences and good practices in building, registering for protection and promoting the value of agricultural product brands.
According to Mr. Tran Quang Vu, representative of Ho Quang Tri private enterprise (Soc Trang), to increase awareness among businesses about the importance of trademark protection, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and relevant agencies should strengthen information, propaganda and training for businesses, farmers and related parties to promptly implement trademark protection to avoid affecting the reputation, quality and brand of the products they have built.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ta Quang Kien said that in the coming time, he will propose to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to promote enterprises to cooperate with farmers in the value chain of industries associated with building brands and trademarks for agricultural products and OCOP products. Pay attention to supplementing and perfecting mechanisms and policies to promote activities to encourage and support enterprises and farmer organizations (cooperatives, cooperative groups...) in building, managing, exploiting and promoting the value of product brands.
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